This is the second part of the travel diary from the trip I took with my dad to Singapore, Thailand, and Malaysia in 1999. The trip was before my sophomore year of high school, and was my first experience outside of the US. In the first week of the trip we explored Singapore for a few days before going on to Kuala Lumpur and the Taman Negara rain forest. Once again, my present day comments are in italics. Now we move on to Penang, a Malaysian island once known as the Pearl of the Orient.

Days 7-8: Penang

I like Penang.  It is a dirtier, older version of Singapore.  There are tuk-tuks, trishaws and people on bikes everywhere.  It isn’t a particularly beautiful city, but it has a real flavor of south east asia.

I remember taking a ride on a trishaw (basically a bicycle cart taxi) around town when we first arrived in Penang. Besides that, we walked everywhere during our trip. Since then, whenever I am abroad I much prefer walking around the cities that I visit.  I use public transportation when the distances are long, but taxis are an absolute last resort. In most cases, I’d rather walk from point A to point B so that I can really see what the surrounding areas are like.  Perhaps this habit comes from Penang where I remember laughing at the overweight american tourists in Hawaiian shirts and sun glasses being ferried around in trishaws. It seemed like they spent more time inhaling the exhaust from the cars and motorbikes zipping around town then actually seeing what the city had to offer.

Today we have had bad luck.  First, a clan headquarters that is supposed to be a very interesting site was closed for repairs.  Then the museum my dad really wanted to go to was closed since today is Friday.  After that, the restaurant we walked all the way across town for wasn’t at all what we expected and didn’t seem to sell lunch.  Now it is starting to rain.

Our hotel room is currently covered in drying clothes.  The clothes I washed back in Taman Negara did not dry at all due to the humidity [in retrospect this is somehow not very surprising].  Hopefully today they will make more progress. There are also lots of rats here, and dogs – the first we have seen this trip.  Hopefully neither of those will end up as our dinner.  Money changers are everywhere in Penang.  They usually also sell jewelry and/or (oddly enough) used books.  Actually, it seems that everyone sells used books.  There was a place that sold “used English books and motorcycles”.  Quite a market niche. Continue reading →